18 RIO DE JANEIRO. 



painted yellow, is relieved by the varied beauty of 

 the suburbs and g-ardens, and the numierous wooded 

 eminences crowned by churches and other conspi- 

 cuous public edifices. Beyond the city the harbour 

 ag-ain widens out to form an immense basin, studded 

 with green islands, extending backwards some seven- 

 teen or eig-hteen miles further towards the foot of 

 the Org-an mountains, remarkable for their pin- 

 nacled summits, the highest of which attains an 

 elevation of 7800 feet above the sea. 



The harbour presented a busy scene from our 

 anchorag-e. The water was ahve with small craft 

 of every description, from the large felucca-rigged 

 boat down to the fishing canoe simply constructed 

 of a hollowed out log, and steamers crowded with 

 passengers plied between the city and the opposite 

 shore. The sea breeze died away, and was suc- 

 ceeded by a sultry calm ; after a short interval, the 

 grateful land wind, laden with sweet odours, ad- 

 vanced as a dark line slowly stealing along the 

 surface of the water, and the deep boom of the 

 evening gun echoing from hill to hill may be said 

 appropriately to have closed the scene. 



Landing at the Largo do Pa^o, or palace square, 

 my first favourable impressions of the city of Eio 

 de Janeiro were somewhat lessened by the stench 

 arising from oifal on the beach, and the vicinity of 

 the market, under the conjoined influence of a per- 

 fect calm and a temperature of 90° in the shade. 

 The palace, now used by the emperor only on court 



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